Inflation is serious now that it might hurt Dems
Inflation is one of the biggest challenges President Joe Biden faces. Americans of all political persuasions are angry about it. They see it as gas and diesel prices hit record highs. They see it at the grocery store. They see it when they buy just about anything, from couches to cars. And they see it in soaring home and rent prices in formerly affordable neighborhoods. While inflation might have peaked in March, it is set to remain painfully high for months to come. Families understand the math: Wages rose an average of 5.5% in the past year, while prices surged 8.3%.
On Tuesday, Biden gave his most forceful remarks yet on inflation, telling the nation he was taking it “very seriously” and considered it “my top domestic priority.” He should have said this months ago. The White House has been suffering from magical thinking on inflation, and, sadly, that continues.
For much of last year, the Biden administration wrongly told the American public that rising prices would be short-lived. When it became clear that inflation would not come down on its own, the White House began a blame game. One of its favorite talking points is to pin inflation on greedy corporations for hiking prices too much. That just doesn’t add up. Corporations did not become far more greedy in the past few months. What’s really going on is basic economics: There’s high demand for a lot of stuff and not enough supply because of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, China’s lockdown, crushed supply chains and not enough workers. That’s a classic recipe for higher prices.
Biden also spent much of his inflation speech berating Republicans for hyping up the inflation problems and failing to deliver remedies. He especially went after Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who did put out a terrible tax plan. But this isn’t what Americans want to hear. While the White House looks for culprits to blame for inflation, it has struggled to articulate any sort of plan.
The Federal Reserve has properly taken the lead on tackling inflation. The central bank is aggressively raising interest rates, which should cool off demand for homes, cars and more. Meanwhile, Biden and his fellow Democrats should be focused on things they can do on the supply side: how to fix supply chains and get more workers into the economy.
The White House has made small attempts. It released a record amount of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help alleviate costs at the pump, and officials have finally announced some efforts to try to tackle the massive backlog of legal immigrants waiting for authorization to work. But it was disappointing that Biden made no mention in his speech of bringing aboard more legal immigrant workers, lowering or eliminating Donald Trump’s tariffs, or making additional efforts to fix supply chain holdups. When a reporter pressed Biden on tariffs, he said, “We’re discussing that right now.”
It’s wishful thinking that inflation is going to come down much by Election Day. To show voters he is on top of the problem, Biden needs to do more than blame someone else for high prices.